I’ve been teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu since 2017 and believe me when I say, my methods are ever-changing. I’m rarely content with the way I do things. If you’ve had the privilege of instructing as I have, I can almost guarantee you’ve felt or feel the same. It’s impossible not to. We’re very similar creatures, we instructors are. We’re talented and diligent and determined. And being these types of people, we’re rarely satisfied. Which is probably a good thing because each time we make a change, improvement is sure to follow.
I began training in Glastonbury, Connecticut at Giroux Brothers Martial Arts in 2008. I stayed with that club until 2013, when I moved to Palm Coast, Florida. While in Florida, I trained in St. Augustine at Fighting Chance Fitness for six months, after which, I moved to Maine. Finally, in the latter part of 2013, I began training at The Foundry BJJ in Farmington and I’ve yet to leave. And it’s at The Foundry where I began my teaching. Over the past seven years, I must’ve taught at least 100 students and that’s being conservative. During this span of this time, I’ve come to conclude that each club offers a wildly different type of student. Locales are quite unique. The students in Connecticut were so much more academic than those in Florida, who were so much more militarily and competition based than those in Maine, who are really very mixed with their approach and style. In Maine, I tangle with police officers, border patrol agents, college students, lumberjacks (also known as loggers), and school teachers. It’s a diverse crowd and my teaching style needs to reflect that.
The other instructors and I recently held a meeting with the owner of The Foundry, Mr. Seth Harris. Seth is an excellent instructor and club owner and takes what he does extremely seriously. He’s always on the hunt for better ways to do things, hence, our meeting. Basically, Seth wanted to let us in on some information and tactics he recently read about in a few books that pertained to teaching, learning, and how the brain works. I’ve actually read a few of these types of books in the past, so before even going into the meeting, I had an inkling of what we’d be discussing. Although, it’s been years since I’ve been exposed to this type of psychological literature, so the refresher was well received.
In the most basic sense, teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu can be as simple as demonstrating a move and then asking the class to try it out for themselves. My approach has essentially evolved into this very style. I’ve tried all sorts of approaches and each and every time I attempt to get fancy, I find myself simply showing the class that something merely exists and then asking them to repeat after me. During the “repeat” session, the students screw everything up and I walk around and correct them. Eventually, they get it right and we all go home for the night.
BJJ really only consists of a few different aspects during class; first the demonstration by the instructor and his helper, then the trial and error by the students, and finally the open mat. That’s it. I’ve learned that if I attempt at offering theory and physics, my explanations fall on deaf ears. Either that or the students enjoy my labors, but after they’ve left class for the night, they forget everything I’ve said before they even reach the parking lot. It’s a shame really, this forgetting. But while it may be a shame, forgetfulness is a very real thing that needs to be addressed and Seth’s ideas are an attempt at addressing it.
Simply put, Seth explained to us that the human mind can only remember approximately four instructions at a time. Any more than that and it discards something it’s learned previously within the same set of instructions. So if a BJJ teacher demonstrates a complex sweep to transition to position to submission, the students will be all over the place as they attempt the series by themselves. I know this to be true because at times, I’ve offered too much during the demonstration period and I can recall the blank stares I’ve received in return. It’s not a fun place to be, so now, I make sure to keep any demonstrations I offer to my students very brief and as general and non-nuanced as possible, if that’s even a word.
Seth’s strategy goes like this: During the 10 minute warm up period we give our students before each class, have the students engage in sort of a positional sparring, but while doing so, give very specific challenges to each participant. Seth calls them games. For example, if one student’s goal is to, while in closed guard, pull their opponent’s arm across their body, if they achieve this goal, they’d stop and start over. And they’d “win.” As for the other student, their goal would be to do something else, such as perhaps resist the arm drag and hide the arm back towards their waist. Essentially, the objective is to have the students practice and challenge themselves with the crux of the future technique that will be shown to them during class. The gamification aspect is meant to keep the students engaged and challenged and whether they know it or not, learning. By the time the instructor gets around to actually demonstrating the technique or techniques, the students will have had their orientation to it/them and will have had enough practice time to have embedded the brief routine into their memories. This will avert the forgetfulness aspect I described above. It’s genius really and it’s purposeful as opposed to the wash, rinse, repeat style many instructors have become accustomed to, myself included.
As I mentioned above, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu isn’t tough to teach. And actually, in my opinion, an instructor’s job is to demonstrate that positions, movements, techniques, and theories merely exist. It’s the student’s job to run with those ideas to make them work. Marginal students will show up to class, practice, and go home, not to think about BJJ again until their next scheduled class. Gifted students will attend class, practice, go home and spend hours on YouTube and forums, visit other schools to train, take private lessons, and return to attend as many classes during the week as possible. I’ve seen it a thousand times – I’ve actually got two or three particularly gifted students in mind right now. These guys have become absolutely hooked on BJJ and over the past few years have made astonishing strides towards some legitimate proficiency. Strides so great that they’ve actually caught me in a few submissions and I’m rather tricky to catch, if I don’t say so myself.
In closing, I’ll say that I’m excited to add a bit of focus to my lessons and I think the gamification aspect of explaining techniques will go a long way in helping my students get the most out of what they pay for.
